Standard & Objectives Posters

Well it's summer time and I simply cannot get my mind off of school.  Have I mentioned how excited I am for next year? :)  I have so many new ideas to do next year and a huge lists of projects to complete this summer.

Project #1

Towards the end of last year we found out the school district I work for was going to implement DII (Direct Interactive Instruction) from Action Learning Systems.  At first it was an overwhelming thought, everyone was thinking it was just one more thing to do... but it wasn't!  It was simply just teaching us how to be better teachers and how to better engage the students.  The experience was wonderful.  My team and I really enjoyed it and took a lot from it.  If your school is looking into it, get excited!  I highly recommend this!

One of the things we learned was to break down the standards.  If you are like I am, my team and I had already done this for some of the standards which clearly have different pieces to them.  However we were taught to take it one step further and break down some of the more difficult, complex standards into smaller, more manageable lessons using objectives.  The point of the objectives was to help concentrate the focus of the lesson better.

My grade level and I worked together to break everything down into objectives and typed it all up. I then took what we typed up and made cutesy posters using graphics from The 3AM Teacher . :)  I am all about making things cute and colorful.

 Here is a peek at how they turned out:

The entire set of 5th grade standards are available HERE.  I hope you guys enjoy them!

Off to the next project!

<3
Sarah

PS: Thanks again to The 3AM Teacher for allowing me to use her graphics for my cute posters.  Check out her store for more super cute clip art.

Happy Birthday 4th Grade Frolics!!

Check out the party that I just joined over at 4th Grade Frolics!  

It's an awesome blog with a lot of great ideas!

                   

Not only should you check out the blog because of the amazing party and the other blogs that are joining in, but you need to be sure to watch for "Made It Mondays"!

Every Monday there will be a blog post for something she made for her classroom/school and also something she does at home.  You can easily join in by posting something you made for your classroom/school on Monday and copy the button over.

Hopefully I'll be posting to that soon! :)

I hope you guys go and check out it!

<3
Sarah

I Have Returned!

I am finally back!  I am so sorry for the unexpected hiatus... what can I say?  Life happens.  I've spent the past several months back and forth to the veterinarian's office for my different pets, dealing with family things, and finishing up the school year.  I have also taken in an abandoned litter of kittens that I spent most of May bottle feeding.

Now I am back and feeling completely refreshed since it is summer!  I have already begun planning new and exciting things for my classroom next year and working on my writing and photography.  Tomorrow I will be posting some kitten pictures and also some new teaching things that I have been working on.

I hope your summers are going well!

Thanks for hanging around!
Sarah

Photography, Teaching, and Writing Oh My!

Goodness sakes, I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since I last updated.  I'm trying to get on a schedule with my blogs so that you can expect updates on certain days.  Right now things have been a bit crazy.  I have a bit of a long update, so bear with me and I hope you enjoy it! :)

I have my first photography "job" today!  I am going to be photographing my brother's wedding.  I'm so excited, but also nervous about getting the perfect pictures. :)   I have been looking up other wedding photos to get some ideas of what I want to do and how I want them to look, but I also have a lot of ideas of my own.  We'll see how it goes! 

Speaking of photography, here are some pictures that I have taken for the Let's Do 52 Challenge. 

3/52 Every Day Tools

Television remote :) I would love feedback! I used Picnic to edit with the Gritty effect.

6/52 Chaos

Let the chaos begin... Julius is plotting.

When your cat jumps in the trash can after shredded paper, you know it's going to be a chaotic night.

Now on to teaching things.  I have uploaded a couple more items to my TeachersPayTeachers account.  One file includes all 30 spelling tests for the Macmillan/McGraw-Hill Treasures for CA.  It is all formatted to use with the Renaissance Responder and AccelTest system.  I am still working on transferring all of the vocabulary tests to that format as well.  I am also working on some Math tests using ExamView.  On a more creative side, I am working on my Creative Writing PowerPoint that will include several different writing prompts complete with graphic organizers. 

As far as my story goes I have added a bit more to it.  I'm kind of jumping around going on to whichever part I am inspired to write.  It's still a work in progress. Here's an excerpt from it though.

“No!” I yelled as I jumped out of my seat.  My heart raced in panic… embarrassment… fear…  Did I really just shout that out?  Am I really doing this now?  My chest tightened as I looked across the room.

Our eyes met.  Everything seemed to stop.  No one else seemed to exist.  There was just him and me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Life is full of firsts.

First steps.

First tooth.

First loose tooth.

First crush.

First love.

First loss.

First broken heart.

First act of craziness from said broken heart.

This is a story about my firsts.  I’ll save you from the beginning firsts and we will begin with my first love.

First Love… 

I’m not talking about high school crush who you stare at across the grounds hoping he pays attention to you, and then suddenly your attention shifts to another guy.  I am talking about true love, where you think about the person day and night.  You cannot even begin to picture your life without this person.  You speak to them every day and feel giddy as if you were back in high school.  The butterflies in your stomach start to flutter when you see him.  Your skin tingles when you hold hands and there is no way of explaining how wonderful he makes you feel to be around.

This is about my first love.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment! :)

<3

Sarah

You Know You're a Teacher When...

...you get home from school and find random items in your pockets.

It seems like every day I find at least one of these items in my pockets.  Typically it's the dry erase markers I carry in my back pockets during class, but occasionally I have found Tech Decks (the little finger skateboards), Pokemon cards, and other little toys.

Apparently this is part of a Linky party, which I had never heard of before but it's fun. :)  Thanks to Jeannie at Kindergarten Lifestyle for hosting this!

Angry Birds Attack Poetry

Disclaimer: I do not own Angry Birds or claim any rights to them at all.  They belong to Rovio.  The following items are FREE.

Well now that we got started with the disclaimer, I can explain my brilliant idea.  My students are very much in to Angry Birds... and I must admit I am too.  It had been one of those days where I thought to myself, "I need something fresh and fun or I am going to go crazy".  I finally took something that we all loved and turned it in to a learning opportunity.

My students created Angry Bird poems.  Here are the directions:

Here is the board I put together:

My students had a blast with this activity.  They were all surprised that we used Angry Birds in class and were even more surprised at the board I created with it.  We all had a great time with this activity and it helped sparked their interest in poetry.  They now realize that poetry can be written about anything.

Let me know what you think about this idea down in the comments! I'm also open to other ideas on how to use Angry Birds. :)

Have a great Saturday night!

<3

Sarah

Flow Map (teaching stuff)

A blog post two days in a row! Wow what a shocker, right?

I decided to post one of my school ideas on here to share with others.  There are more to come, I promise.  I have a lot of ideas and lessons to share with you!

At my school we began to use Thinking Maps a couple of years ago.  If you are unfamiliar with them they are basically a higher level thinking graphic organizer.  There are several different types from comparing and contrasting, cause and effect, all the way to chronological order/sequencing.  The latter is the one I am sharing with you.  I claim NO rights to Thinking Maps.  All I did was modify one to make it a nice printable to give to my students.

Click here to download your own copy!

This map makes it easy for the students to put the events in the story in chronological order.  In the open boxes the students draw pictures depicting each major event. On the lines underneath the students write 1-2 sentences telling about the event.  This map is easily adaptable to any grade level or subject.  I have used it in literature circles, whole class reading, and even in Social Studies.  The kids really enjoy this because they get to draw.

That's all for now! I promise to post more of my school ideas!  If you have anything you would like to share having to do with the flow map or something you use for teaching Chronological order, feel free to share it in the comments section. :) 

<3
Sarah